Private 2288 Thomas Henry Frith, 11th Battalion, Manchester Regiment

﻿Thomas Henry Frith was born on 27th January 1897, the son of Francis Henry and Mary Hannah Frith (nee Metcalfe) of 141 Oldfield Road, Salford. Thomas had three brothers (Charles Frederick, Harold and Sidney). In 1901 the family had moved two doors away to the Village Blacksmith Tavern, 137 Oldfield Road, Salford, where his parents were employed as beerhouse keepers. By 1911 the family had moved to 21 Windsor Street, Pendleton, Salford, and Francis has taken up employment as a grocer’s assistant. In 1911, 14 year old Thomas had left school and was employed as a ‘nipper’ for a railway company. Sadly his father, Francis, died in early 1912, aged 51, leaving Thomas as the sole wage earner. One year later, Mary married John W. Gash and they took up residence at 26 Elton Street, Lower Broughton. Mary, with four children to feed, would have been faced with a stark choice; another marriage or the workhouse.

On 13th October 1913, Thomas enlisted at Halifax into the West Riding Regiment as Private 10647. At the time he was only 16 years old; he had provided a false date of birth. His attestation paper shows his height on enlistment as 6 feet 2 inches (although it appears that he was still growing), and describes him as having a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. He listed his employment as a concrete worker and religion as Church of England.

﻿Private Thomas Henry Frith, Manchester Regiment

On 23rd March, his mother wrote to the Officer Commanding, 2nd Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment), stating:

Dear Sir, just a few lines to see if I can have my son at home has [sic] he is my main support and is the eldest of four children and I ham [sic] the only one to bring him up and my son Thomas Henry Frith was seventeen on 27th of January witch [sic] you will see by his birth certificate a​nd oblige.​Yours truly, Mary Frith.

Mary’s letter was forwarded to the Salford Police for further investigation. The Chief Constable wrote to the Officer Commanding:

Dear Sir, with reference to your letter of the 23rd inst, I beg to inform you that one of my sergeants interviewed the writer of the letter returned herewith. It appears that about 12 months ago she married a man named John William Gash who has turned out to be a lazy man and only gives her a shilling per week. She has one son, Charles, aged 15 years, earning 5/- per week and the two boys, Harold and Sidney, are still at school. She has to take in washing and keeps two lodgers. My sergeant saw Mr Peter Taylor, builder and contractor of 8 Elton Street, Broughton, who promised to give the soldier regular work if he can obtain his discharge. Mrs Frith appears to be a sober and hardworking woman. Yours faithfully, [name illegible], Chief Constable. As a result, Thomas was discharged on 9th April 1914, ‘having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment.’

Two months later, on 8th June 1914, Thomas re-enlisted, this time into the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, Manchester Regiment, as Private 2288. He was still only 17 years old, too young to be accepted by the Army, however, his height probably helped him enlist. On 4th August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany and Thomas, along with many thousands of young men, was already in training for active service. During his time with the 3rd Battalion, a newspaper article headed ‘Tallest Soldier in the British Army’ described him as 6 feet 8 inches tall. It is likely that his age was discovered while in the Army because, while many of his compatriots were sent to the front in July 1915, he was held back until he was almost 19 years old (the minimum age for service overseas).

After a period of training he was posted as part of a reinforcement draft to the 11th (Service) Battalion, Manchester Regiment, 34th Brigade, 11th Division. He joined the battalion at the Greek Island of Imbros, on 23rd December 1915, shortly after the battalion had been evacuated from Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli peninsula. After a period in Egypt, the battalion sailed for France, reaching Marseilles on 8th July 1916, from where they travelled north to join the Battle of the Somme.

At first the battalion was stationed on the Arras front, north of the Somme. Here they spent almost two months acclimatising to life on the Western Front, interspersed with periods of training and rest. On 4th September they moved to Puchevillers, behind the main Somme battle front, where they engaged in further assault training. In mid-September they moved closer to the main battle and, finally, on the 19th September, they moved into trenches in the sector opposite Mouquet Farm, a fortified German position, north of Pozieres village. The farm, named ‘Mucky Farm’ by British troops, had been an objective on the first day of the battle (1st July) but for almost three months it had resisted all attempts to capture the position. The battalion remained here until, on 23rd September, they were relieved and moved to the reserve trenches.

On 26th September 1916, the 11th Battalion was in Reserve at Crucifix Corner near Aveluy. At 11am they moved to Ovillers and at 3.28pm they attacked the enemy redoubt at Mouquet Farm. Mouquet Farm fell at last to the British troops but at some point during the attack Thomas was killed in action, aged only 19 years old. His body was never recovered from the battlefield and he is therefore commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, along with 72,000 other missing men.

The fate of Thomas provides a tragic insight into life in early post-Victorian Britain. His father died too early, leaving a hardworking and loving mother, struggling to make ends meet while doing the best for her four young sons. For many young impoverished people the Army provided a decent living and we can only surmise that this was the motivation that led Thomas to enlist, not once, but twice, into the Army before he had turned 18.

Present day Mouquet Farm -The original Mouquet farm building was completely destroyed ​during the battle and the farm that you can see in the picture was built after the war.